The nBn or XBn barrier infrared detector has the advantage of reduced dark current resulting from suppressed Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination and surface leakage. High performance detectors and focal plane arrays (FPAs) based on InAsSb absorber lattice matched to GaSb substrate, with a matching AlAsSb unipolar electron barrier, have been demonstrated. The band gap of lattice-matched InAsSb yields a detector cutoff wavelength of approximately 4.2 μm when operating at ~150K. We report results on extending the cutoff wavelength of midwave barrier infrared detectors by incorporating self-assembled InSb quantum dots into the active area of the detector. Using this approach, we were able to extend the detector cutoff wavelength to ~6 μm, allowing the coverage of the full midwave infrared (MWIR) transmission window. The quantum dot barrier infrared detector (QD-BIRD) shows infrared response at temperatures up to 225 K.

Date Published: 31 May 2012
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8353, Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVIII, 835332 (31 May 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.920685

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8353:
Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVIII
Bjørn F. Andresen; Gabor F. Fulop; Paul R. Norton, Editor(s)